| 7:1 | I am depressed!* Indeed,* it is as if the summer fruit has been gathered, and the grapes have been harvested.* There is no grape cluster to eat, no fresh figs that I crave so much.* |
| 7:2 | Faithful men have disappeared* from the land; there are no godly men left.* They all wait in ambush so they can shed blood;* they hunt their own brother with a net.* |
| 7:3 | They are determined to be experts at doing evil;* government officials and judges take bribes,* prominent men make demands, and they all do what is necessary to satisfy them.* |
| 7:4 | The best of them is like a thorn; the most godly among them are more dangerous than a row of thorn bushes.* The day you try to avoid by posting watchmen – your appointed time of punishment – is on the way,* and then you will experience confusion.* |
| 7:5 | Do not rely on a friend; do not trust a companion! Don’t even share secrets with the one who lies in your arms!* |
| 7:6 | For a son thinks his father is a fool, a daughter challenges* her mother, and a daughter-in-law her mother-in-law; a man’s enemies are his own servants.* |
| 7:7 | But I will keep watching for the Lord; I will wait for the God who delivers me. My God will hear my lament.* |
| 7:8 | My enemies,* do not gloat* over me! Though I have fallen, I will get up. Though I sit in darkness, the Lord will be my light.* |
| 7:9 | I must endure* the Lord’s anger, for I have sinned against him. But then* he will defend my cause,* and accomplish justice on my behalf. He will lead me out into the light; I will experience firsthand* his deliverance.* |
| 7:10 | When my enemies see this, they will be covered with shame. They say* to me, “Where is the Lord your God?” I will gloat over them.* Then they will be trampled down* like mud in the streets. |
| 7:11 | It will be a day for rebuilding your walls; in that day your boundary will be extended.* |
| 7:12 | In that day people* will come to you* from Assyria as far as* Egypt, from Egypt as far as the Euphrates River,* from the seacoasts* and the mountains.* |
| 7:13 | The earth will become desolate* because of what its inhabitants have done.* |
| 7:14 | Shepherd your people with your shepherd’s rod,* the flock that belongs to you,* the one that lives alone in a thicket, in the midst of a pastureland.* Allow them to graze in Bashan and Gilead,* as they did in the old days.* |
| 7:15 | “As in the days when you departed from the land of Egypt, I will show you* miraculous deeds.”* |
| 7:16 | Nations will see this and be disappointed by* all their strength, they will put their hands over their mouths, and act as if they were deaf.* |
| 7:17 | They will lick the dust like a snake, like serpents crawling on the ground.* They will come trembling from their strongholds to the Lord our God;* they will be terrified* of you.* |
| 7:18 | There is no other God like you!* You* forgive sin and pardon* the rebellion of those who remain among your people.* You do not remain angry forever,* but delight in showing loyal love. |
| 7:19 | You will once again* have mercy on us; you will conquer* our evil deeds; you will hurl our* sins into the depths of the sea.* |
| 7:20 | You will be loyal to Jacob and extend your loyal love to Abraham,* which you promised on oath to our ancestors* in ancient times.* |
Micah 7 - NET Bible [draft]
